Just For One Day review: This Live Aid musical is Bob Geldof’s tribute to... himself

The Old Vic’s musical about Bob Geldof’s generation-defining Wembley concert for Ethiopia powerfully deploys hits like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – but in the end is just a massive celebration of the sweary Irish star’s legacy

‘Just For One Day’ at the Old Vic (Manuel Harlan)

We can be heroes,” sing the cast of jukebox musical Just For One Day in its opening David Bowie number. And in 1985, a ragtag group of rock stars led by Bob Geldof really did look like caped avengers as they channelled millions in the approximate direction of famine-struck Ethiopia. Nearly 40 years on, things look a bit more complicated. But this bumptious show about the story of Live Aid is all about pure, simple nostalgia, potent as the blend of self-righteousness and backstage cocaine.

Perhaps that’s because Just For One Day comes endorsed by Geldof himself: the theatre’s decked with posters for The Band Aid Charitable Trust, which is still supporting organisations across Africa. Accordingly, all attempts to make this feel like more than a massive celebration of (and advert for) the sweary Irish star’s legacy fall a bit flat.

The first act deals with mawkish-but-catchy Christmas number one “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” ("don’t listen to the lyrics," say its creators, in a rare moment of insight). The second covers Geldof’s attempts to unite stars including Bob Dylan, Queen and Elton John for its massive fundraising gig Live Aid. This show tries its best to persuade us that it’s really about the ordinary guys, like poor old technician Jim (Ashley Campbell), whose gift to the world is accidentally pulling the sound on Paul McCartney’s “Let It Be”, or teenage Suzanne (Hope Kenna), who doles out copies of Band Aid’s Christmas single like they’re life rafts for people drowning in white guilt.